Daf Yomi, Marriage Counseling, Psychotherapy, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Torah and Psychology
Our Gemara discusses what seems to be practical and helpful business advice. However, at the end, I believe there is a subtle but powerful message, which I will highlight. Shmuel taught:
“One who patrols his property every day will find an asteira coin.”
The implication of Shmuel’s practical advice is that even a great sage must take time to tend his property and employ reasonable vigilance.
However, Rav Asi tries this method with mixed results. The Gemara reports:
“Rav Asi would patrol his property every day. He said: Where are all these asteira coins mentioned by Mar Shmuel? This patrol is not reaping me any benefit. One day he saw a water channel that overflowed, causing water to flood onto his land. He took off his cloak, wrapped it, and placed it inside the pipe to block the flow of water. He then raised his voice, and people came and sealed the hole. He said: I have just found all the asteira coins mentioned by Mar Shmuel, as I would have suffered a great loss had I not patrolled my fields.”
This seemingly mundane Gemara is making a profound statement. Often, we attempt to do the right thing and do not always see a proportionate benefit or return. Shmuel, who was a great man, had certain divine blessings and perhaps mazal as well, and saw an almost continuous return on his efforts. On the other hand, Rav Asi “did the right thing,” and did not see success. He wondered out loud, why is it not working? But, one fine day it paid off. This is the nature of things. We cannot guarantee results even when we make healthy and prudent choices. And it is unrealistic to expect good choices to absolutely and consistently yield good results. However, we could expect that statistically, over time, wise choices will tend to yield good results. That is a key difference. It took time for Rav Asi to experience the same benefit that came immediately to Shmuel.
This is a natural variation in life. Sometimes we get the results quickly, sometimes we get the results slowly, and once in a while, we may not get the results at all. There are no promises. Yet, that does not take away from the value of making wise choices.
It is important when evaluating past and future choices that we do not only evaluate them by their immediate outcome, but by their statistical probability and overall strategy. If it is a good strategy, and we have no reason to believe that there is some fault or misdirection, we cannot evaluate success by the immediate outcome. We must evaluate success by our ability to stay with the plan. If the plan is good, and we stay with it, most likely eventually we will see the results, even if they are not immediate, and even if they are not guaranteed. This is Rav Asi’s message.
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Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com